Filed under Running, Ultrarunners who inspire by robmackay | 1 comment
This weekend was all about Jarhead doing the 24 Hour Relay. If you missed it, he ran the entire damn time. (On concrete no less)
I was honoured to be his pacer between midnight and 6am. Was he hurting? Yes. Would anyone hurt at running for that amount of time? Yes. The thing that amazed me most was that there wasn’t a complaint the entire time. Me? I’d be whining like a baby after 12 hours. You? You’d be whining too.
My job was to keep the Coke flowing, keep his feet in decent shape and head out with him on all of his ‘witching hour’ laps. To be honest, at 5:30am, I was exhausted. I couldn’t wait to go home and sleep (and I couldn’t fathom having to go for another 4:30)
He obviously proved that he could do a 100 miler and I can’t wait until we pick one and get out there on the trails. Dude, Western States?
Filed under Running, Ultrarunners who inspire by robmackay | 0 comments
This is a great quote from Anton Krupicka, arguably one of the best 100 mile trail runners in the world, on how he felt during the late stages of a tough 50 miler he just did on not being able to speed up and beat the course record.
More than once, I have felt like this towards the end of a race. It’s a funny feeling to not have any motivation to speed up and finish hard – you’re cooked. Once in a while you come out of it and pick up the pace. Normally though, if you’ve been going hard, the end is a struggle and like everyone says you just want it done.
That said, when you cross the line and sit down you always kick yourself for not finishing stronger.
Filed under Ultrarunners who inspire by robmackay | 1 comment
I’m reading Pam Reed’s book, The Extra Mile on her ultrarunning exploits. She’s been noted as having a big ego but I can give her a break considering she’s won Badwater 2X, plus in the book she come off as just plain human. Actually, what may be perceived as a big ego is probably more confidence in her ability. Like her or not, she is a elite ultrarunner.
I’m also reading The Upside of Down (again) - our bookclub choice, and Charlie Wilson’s War - another excellent read. (admittedly, 3 on the go is a bit unusual for me)
Filed under Running, Ultrarunners who inspire by robmackay | 0 comments
Right now I’m going on the assumption that I will be running Western States next year and have made 2 adjustments to my training to (hopefully) adapt in time.
1. Long(er) hill repeats – I’ve been running repeats on Mt. Doug on a route I have dubbed the ‘Iron Cross’. The terrain is steep and footing is questionable but it is a good simulation for the terrain of the northern Californian mountains. I will look to graduate to Findlayson in the new year and start weekly runs to the top.
2. Depletion runs – These are longer runs (2 hours+) where I refrain from eating 2 hours before and during the run. The objective is to adapt to running on empty to simulate the late stages of a race. I haven’t done a 100 miler yet but I can guess that the last 30 miles are done in a haze.
Filed under Excellence, Life, Running, Ultrarunners who inspire by robmackay | 0 comments
Adolescent righteousness is a curse. With youth comes the perception that the world is black/white, right/wrong, left/right, and so on. Leading psychologists/leadership experts and other self-proclaimed human performance pundits believe that as we age, we start to see the nuances in life. This leads to a more balanced view on things and I believe a more, not less, stressful existence.
Get on with it.
In recent years I have begun to change my stance on monetary success – but not for the reasons you may think. Success soley in the world of ‘money’ is hollow in the same way success the world of ‘ultras’ is hollow. It’s success albeit narrowly defined.
In the current ‘grab-what-you-can’ culture, of which I am as guilty as anyone else in participating, we rarely define success by anything other than the ‘$’ symbol. The tragedy is that a singular focus, such as making a million dollars several times over, is maximizing only 1 aspect of your human existence.
Want to know who impresses me?
From the ultra world – Dean Karnazes. (Business savvy, physical prowess, good speaker, responds to email from the common Joe – responded to mine, Dad, etc)
Hammer him if you want but he is someone who from the outside looks as though he is striving for excellence in every aspect. (I’m sure he doesn’t see it that way)
